


Here Is Gone

by amiavegetable



Series: Walk on the Wild Side [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, New Jersey, New York City, Slice of Life, i guess lol, more new york fic bc im trash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 06:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10588815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amiavegetable/pseuds/amiavegetable
Summary: Do a one-eighty on the map and you'll find yourself here.





	

**Author's Note:**

> oh wow look who's posting again
> 
> [title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNtN83-vQmw)
> 
> also! you should probably read part 1 of the series for jeonghan and wonwoo's dynamic to make sense

_i: friend requests (january)_

The start of a new year is a big deal. Wonwoo has always felt weirdly detached from it all.

Soonyoung drags him outside come the last hour of 2016, ignoring all of Wonwoo's protests, a _we can still make it_ urgent in his hands and legs. They arrive at Times Square with three and a half minutes to spare, which leaves them far off the makeshift fences holding the dedicated crowd together. They're going to hear and see 2017 happening from afar but Soonyoung, like every year, looks determined to enjoy it with the nobility of at least one Dick Clark. Wonwoo has given up protesting years ago.

The glittering ball starts descending. And then there it is.

Wonwoo sees his first glimpse of 2017 a beat or two late, having listened to the countdown sounding from countless throats with his eyes screwed shut. It's disorienting, to open them again. In front of him, there is a wave of arms being thrown up in the air, reaching for the sky in these few invincible seconds. Somewhere to his right, Soonyoung starts whooping loud and off-key and crushes Wonwoo in an enthusiastic hug.

"Happy New Year!", he yells, waving his arms around while confetti cascades from the sky. "Big Ball Drop 2017! Don't tell me you're not excited!"

Wonwoo scrunches his nose and wipes at his cheek. "It's okay", he says, a few decibel below Soonyoung. Music swells from dozens of invisible loudspeakers, a first patriotic moment in the brand new year. The Times Square billboards are blinking a race against the sparkling ball majestically taking its place above the glitzy new 2017 sign.

"Next year", Soonyoung says solemnly, "I'm gonna bring someone to kiss me at midnight."

Wonwoo snorts and loops an arm around his best friend's shoulders despite himself. Here, caught in a moment of hope and euphoria, it's easy to still believe in love.

 

New Year's Day is one thing, the entirety of January following another. The new year doesn't seem to start, not _really_ , until classes start again and Wonwoo sees more of his friends than an occasional Kwon Soonyoung lazing around on his (Junhui's) couch for a solid block of six hours and then disappearing God knows where for three days.

"Hey, have you seen any almond milk around here lately?", Junhui asks one day when Wonwoo pads into the kitchen with bleary eyes.

"Um, hi. No? I don't think _?"_ Wonwoo blinks. "Have you seen Soonyoung around here lately?"

Junhui closes the fridge door with a little more vigour than Wonwoo deems appropriate for the hour and shrugs. "Nope. Anyway, I gotta bounce, I _really_ need that almond milk."

And he strides past Wonwoo with a goal set in mind before Wonwoo can ask him where the fuck _he's_ been for the past two weeks.

So yeah. The short period of time between the start of a new year and the start of a new cycle of classes always seems like a bit of a holiday dry spell, and the first few steps of adjusting to the new rhythm are always kind of awkward. It feels like every January, he has to relearn how to act in a social environment to even get his smalltalk past the crusty _happy new year!_ and _did you have a good Christmas?_.

"Hey, did you have a good Christmas?"

Wonwoo looks up from his coffee order and into the barista's face, whom he recognises now, a blink too late. "Yeah", he says, hiking the strap of his bag up his shoulder. It already weighs heavy with the new load of readings and expectations for this year.

He looks at Jeonghan's face. He looks good, better than when he last saw him, down at Bryant Park. What Wonwoo remembers of him in slumped shoulders and a clouded conflict in his being is now the opposite, Jeonghan standing tall and relaxed with his eyes clear.

Wonwoo bites his lips. Post Christmas awkwardness be damned. The coffee shop is fairly empty at this hour, so he can lean a bit closer to the counter without disrupting anyone waiting in line behind him, cringes inwardly at what he's about to ask. "Did you work out your, your- love thing?"

Jeonghan smiles as if that wasn't a weird thing to say to an almost-stranger. "Yeah", he says, voice soft. "Yeah, we worked it out. Thanks for asking."

Wonwoo steals a glance at the happiness sitting in the corners of his smile, thinks, off-hand, _I want that._

"Nice meeting you again", Jeonghan continues, eyeing the hoodie he's wearing. "Wait, you're at NYU? That's-"

Someone behind Wonwoo clears their throat. Wonwoo jumps. Jeonghan turns away from him to get the order, unimpressed.

"Sorry", he says to Wonwoo while pressing a few buttons on the coffee machine. "I'm used to this. What's your major?"

"Oh", Wonwoo says, looking down at the university logo stamped on his chest. "I'm in English." He leaves out the Creative Writing part, he's met people who got all weird and nosy about it. (If he _writes_ writes or just...? And if he plans on publishing...? Does he want to _become_ a _real_ writer...?) But Jeonghan just smiles again.

"Cool", he says. "I'm at Stern."

Wonwoo stays at the counter when the order is ready, watches Jeonghan sweet-talk the frown off the other customer's face, an apology for the delay hidden somewhere in his charming demeanor. The customer buys it, leaves the shop with clear expression on his face. Wonwoo stares at Jeonghan admiringly, amused and intimidated at the same time. Jeonghan doesn't seem to notice. He returns to Wonwoo with a sharpie in his hands.

"Listen, I have the late shift today but let's hang out some time, yeah?"

"Yeah", Wonwoo says, watching Jeonghan scribble a few digits on the pale skin of his forearm. His hands are warm and Wonwoo thinks, _of_ _course_ he would. "Yeah, sure."

He walks out of the shop with his now lukewarm coffee in his hands and a rare smile on his face. Somehow, right in the middle of the Holiday Dry Spell Aftermath, he's made a friend.

 

**[You have accepted Jeonghan Yoon's friend request.]**

**[Jeonghan Yoon is now your friend!]**

 

_interlude: inauguration day_

Inauguration Day finds Wonwoo on Jeonghan's (Jeonghan's boyfriend's) couch, wishing with sudden, blunt desperation to be somewhere else. Everyone else seems to agree.

"This is depressing", Jeonghan says, his eyes glued to the TV screen with a mixture of fascination and disgust flitting over his features in quick succession.

Next to Wonwoo, one of the High School kids Jeonghan seems to have adopted (he feeds them and they call him hyung\- it's _adorable_ ) sighs. "My mom's from Florida, one branch of the family is still there. Neither of us have dared to call since November."

The other two High School kids, squished next to Wonwoo on the couch, nod in somber agreement.

"So", Soonyoung says into the dull silence in the room after the orange man has left the speaker's desk. (Wonwoo brought him to meet Jeonghan's couch so he doesn't strike roots on Wonwoo's. Unsurprisingly, he gets along great with everyone.)

"Does anyone still have those Obama masks they sent out for Halloween in 2013? I'd like to build a shrine."

There's really nothing more to say after that.

 

_ii: fillings, as in fillers, as in- (february)_

Wonwoo's mother's birthday is on February 2nd. Over the years, it's become a landmark for him- as soon as the numbers on the calendar page start repeating themselves there's no need to still feel strange in the new year. He's had a month to adjust. He's _fine_.

So he calls his mom and writes her a belated card and then does one of the few things he knows can actually make him feel better.

They arrive at Union Square roughly an hour later than Wonwoo had planned, but he doesn't care. He's brimming with happy excitement.

"You're more smiley than usual", Jisoo says, a calming presence next to him.

"Am I?" Wonwoo knows he's right. "Thanks for coming with me", he adds, like an afterthought.

For the past few years, he's always taken a friend with him. Not Soonyoung, because he gets jittery and impatient after twenty minutes and Wonwoo spends more time looking for him between mazing lines of narrow bookshelves than actually looking at any books. Junhui, sometimes, when he lets himself be caught between encounters at the fridge door and whatever he does at night. Jisoo Hong is a new addition to the picture, courtesy of Jeonghan's knack for meddling in all his different social circles and one particular shared morning class. The universe is shockingly small sometimes.

Coming here is like a treat. The Strand is unapologetic in its way of promoting outdated things like the analog book trade, holding its place huge and red and busy, a treasure island of everything Wonwoo loves in one place.

"Sure thing", Jisoo says, sending a small reassuring smile his way. "It's good to lose yourself for a while."

And that's what Wonwoo does. Get lost. Breathe.

 

Wonwoo would consider himself a pretty average guy, pretty average for this city at least. But there's one thing that sets him apart from the masses, at least in Jeonghan's humble opinion, apparently: Wonwoo owns a car.

"It's not really _mine_ ", he says, picking at the greasy paper of his burger. "Besides, it's been like rotting away in Queens since last year."

This isn't just an excuse to refute Jeonghan- his car, a remnant of his pre-Manhattan days, has never really been his, per se. It's his uncle's old Chevy, beat-up and run down by the weather and his relative's tendency to overlook traffic signs. He allowed Wonwoo to use it when he was practicing for his driver's license back in High School, something he could do without losing any sleep because even back then, it really couldn't get much worse.

"Doesn't matter", Jeonghan says, his mouth filled with curly fries ( _Wonwoo's_ curly fries, thank you very much.) "I just need a ride to get some shit from home and taking the bus is always such a pain in the ass, especially when your mom wants you to take the treadmill-"

Wonwoo stares at him. "The treadmill?"

Jeonghan shrugs. "She gets overprotective like that." He points at the burger in Wonwoo's hands. "Does Shake Shack have veggie burgers without mushrooms?" With that, he's slipped out of their booth to join the queue.

Wonwoo shakes his head at him. So that is that. And it could be worse.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i swear there's gonna be more mingyu soon
> 
> tourist guide (1):  
> [new year's eve ball drop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG5BILKtACc) \- annual thing at times square where they descend a huge glittery ball during the last minute before midnight  
> nyu - new york university, stern is its business school  
> inauguration day 2017 - the day the downfall became official lol  
> the strand - amazing huge bookstore close to union square  
> shake shack - they do have good veggie burgers (and curly fries)


End file.
